


30 Day BenKaru Challenge -- Day 7, Free Day

by tinynerdlet



Series: 30 Day BenKaru Challenge [7]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-08
Updated: 2016-09-08
Packaged: 2018-08-13 23:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7990315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinynerdlet/pseuds/tinynerdlet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Detective AU.</p><p>They were close to finding Krall. So close. And then, with a trip home and a mysterious voice message, Hikaru realizes there's more at stack than catching a killer, or even letting him go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	30 Day BenKaru Challenge -- Day 7, Free Day

**Author's Note:**

> [See Story On Tumblr](http://spoopynerdlet.tumblr.com/post/148793416988/day-7-of-benkaru-free-day)

After two weeks of investigation, they were close to finding the killer.

Sulu hadn’t realized that when he left the office that evening. He hadn’t realized it during his drive home either. It only dawned on him after he shut his front door and silence was all that answered him.

Demora wouldn’t be up. Her tired soul usually drifted off to the realm of dreams at nine o’clock. It was nearly one in the morning. So, no daughter. His husband was a different story. Ben should still be up. He worried too much for his head to hit the pillows anytime before Sulu came home from the station. At this time of night, Ben was usually planted in his recliner watching cooking competition re-runs. Yet, silence was all that lingered.

Sulu eased his way through the house. Living room, empty. Kitchen, empty. Demora’s room, the same. His and Ben’s, identical. The bathroom yielded no answers either. Sulu re-checked the rooms just in case his eyes lied to him, but nothing had changed. His family wasn’t there.

He paused in the kitchen to collect himself. Ben must have taken Demora somewhere and lost track of time, he thought. It wasn’t like Ben to do that, especially when Sulu was working so late, but there was always a first time for everything. It was then he noticed the flashing light on the phone receiver on the counter. A voice message? Had to be. And it could be Ben, calling to tell him not to worry, to go to sleep, that he’d be home in a little while. Ben was considerate. He’d call.

Sulu pressed play on the receiver. A clear voice rang out.

“You have one unheard message.”

The voice cut away. Another took it’s place. This one shared it’s tones with dark ocean canyons and black holes. It took images of joy and shrouded them with shadows, tainted them with it’s reach. He’d never heard the voice before, but he knew the blackened tones of disruption and decay could only belong to one man.

“Mr. Sulu,” it said, “I believe I may have something you want.”

There was a crack. A scream. A male one. It ripped free as if released from a prison and sailed close, farther, then away. Sobbing followed. Soft, childish sobbing that encased one trembling word, “Papa.”

“If you wish to see your family again,” the blackened voice said, “You will keep this little message private. Once I’ve left town, I will give you instructions on where to find them. You can bring a team, if you wish. But if you call them sooner or begin a search before I’ve left, I will kill your family.”

The message ended. The kind, female voice installed onto the machine asked for something. Sulu didn’t hear what it wanted. All he could hear was his husband’s fading scream.

* * *

Sulu sat at his kitchen table for over an hour. He’d thought about calling someone - Kirk, Spock, maybe even Chekov - but the moment he went to press the call button, his heart lurched and he tossed the phone onto the table. He couldn’t risk the safety of his family anymore than he already had.

Krall was dangerous. More dangerous than any other killer his team faced had been. He had military training, went into war, and even came home from it with little injury, save for some mental issues that a psychiatrist marked on his record as “tame and stable” as long as medication was involved. It’d been ten years since that report was filed, though, and there hadn’t been any since. Krall had disappeared from the world until a few weeks ago when the first of seven bodies was discovered. If Krall wanted to kill Ben and Demora, he’d do it. If he wanted to make sure their bodies were never found, he’d do that too. Sulu knew that. That’s why, despite his urges to reach out, he sat and waited in silence.

His cell phone chimed. He stared down at the screen.

A text. From Ben.

Sulu opened the message. “167.19A,” was all it said.

He called Kirk.

* * *

It was almost four in the morning but the entire team showed up. His call to Kirk sent a wave of calls to the others. They all met at the precinct, tired eyes pried open with anxiety and fear. Chekov was the only one sitting down, but that was because he was trying to triangulate Ben’s phone. The others leaned on desks, stood completely, or paced the room. Sulu had opted for the latter. At least until Chekov spoke.

“I can’t find it,” he said. Sulu turned towards him abruptly. He could only see the young man’s back, but the tense shoulders told him that he wasn’t happy with the outcome of his search, “Ze phone is off. I tried to turn it back on but it won’t go.”

“It is likely that he broke the phone so our search efforts would take longer, giving him more time to flee,” Spock answered.

“Then we’ll have to figure out what the message means,” Kirk said. He looked towards Sulu. “Does any of it look familiar to you?”

“No, sir.”

“Are you sure?” Spock asked. Sulu looked towards him. “You are in a high emotional state. It is possible that your feelings could cause you to-”

“Quit interrogating the man!” McCoy yelled, “Dammit, his family’s missing and you’re questioning him on whether or not he’s sure some random numbers look familiar?”

“I am attempting to cover all of our bases, Doctor. I know that you are not properly educated on how these matters are handled, but I assure that-”

“That’s enough,” Kirk said. “Let’s just focus our efforts on this text. Have you seen anything like this before, Mr. Scott?” Sulu looked towards the technician who was leaned against Chekov’s desk with his arms crossed.

“’fraid not, sir,” he answered. Sulu noticed he wasn’t looking towards him. That was on purpose, no doubt.

“And you, Mr. Chekov?” Kirk asked.

“No, sir.” Chekov’s eyes flicked towards Sulu, but fell towards the ground again.

Sulu took a deep breath and adverted his eyes to the ground as well. The team talked around him. There was nothing he could offer, nothing he could do. His family was missing and all they had was a text from a man that couldn’t care if Ben and Demora were ever returned to him. He wanted to run, to punch, to scream, to cry, to do anything other than stand around with no answers.

A hand touched his arm. Sulu looked. Uhura took next to him, her eyes focused squarely on his. “We’re going to find them,” she said.

“How do you know that?”

“Because I know what we’re capable of.”

* * *

Over sixteen hours passed and nothing had changed. Sulu found himself in Kirk’s office laying on the couch, but not by choice. McCoy demanded he try to sleep. Kirk agreed with him. So Sulu curled himself up onto the couch and closed his eyes. His mind wouldn’t drift. It wouldn’t even sway. It only read the text message as if it were imprinted on the back of his eyelids.

167.19A

The code, or whatever it was, rolled over and over again in his head. A voice accompanied it after a while. His own? No. It was too deep, too heavy. It grew from a whisper to a roar, echoing through his mind link a chanting choir of broken souls. 167.19A, 167.19A, 167.19A-

Ben’s scream.

“Sulu.”

He woke with a start. Kirk’s office was dark but he could still see the outline of a person, a woman. Uhura. Her face was grave but he could feel her radiate some determination.

“We think we found them.”

* * *

Sulu climbed into a cruiser with Spock who, with no change in tone, explained that they thought the numbers might be from an address or apartment. They spent officers to every apartment building, questioned everyone they could, but it offered up no results. Then they checked streets. It turned out that there was a storage unit lot on 167th street near the edge of town. A man matching Krall’s description had rented out a unit yesterday afternoon. The unit was 19A.

They arrived at the storage lot just as the sky started fading into a deep red. Rain was coming. The scent clung onto the California air. He hoped it wasn’t an omen as he stepped out of the cruiser and headed onto the property.

The owner of the lot led him, Spock, and Kirk, who arrived in a separate cruiser, to unit 19A. It was silent inside. The owner handed them bolt cutters for the lock and walked away, under Kirk’s orders. Spock cut through the lock and let it fall. The metal clattered onto the pavement. Silence. Sulu pilled out his pistol. So did Kirk. After a second, Spock pulled the door up, revealing the inside of the unit.

There were two people inside. One was sleeping. The other called Sulu, “Daddy,” with a cracking, tired voice.

* * *

Ben, Sulu, and Demora arrived home at 12:30 in the morning. Demora fell asleep hours ago and barely stirred, even when picked up. Exhaustion. Perfectly normal given what she’d been through. At least that’s what McCoy said. Sulu didn’t bother putting her in her own bed. He carried her to the master bedroom and placed her in the middle of the mattress.

Despite his broken leg, Ben managed to change and crawl into bed on his own. Sulu followed, turning off the lights on his way. As he pushed himself under the sheets, he felt Ben’s fingers brush against his arm. He was reaching out to him, pulling him in. Sulu didn’t budge.

“This isn’t your fault, Hikaru,” Ben whispered, his voice almost melodic in the darkness.

“If I didn’t have this job-”

“Then that man would have taken someone else’s family. It’s possible that more people could have died because of that.”

Sulu sighed. Ben pulled him in. Sulu let him this time. A kiss fell on his forehead.

“Go to sleep, sunshine,” Ben said.

Sleep came quickly.


End file.
